The cruise ship “Ventura” called at Port Kingstown on Wednesday as part of a two-week Caribbean cruise.

Among the passengers were Britons Margaret and Dave, who told SEARCHLIGHT of their impressions of St Vincent.{{more}}

“It’s very nice,” Dave said.

But Margaret felt “A lot of money needs to be spent.

“You obviously have not got as much money as some of the other islands,” she added.

Asked how this was “obvious”, Margaret said: “The roads and the pavements and things like that.

“But people are friendly; they seem very friendly and very well dressed. Children smiled when they went by from school,” she further stated.

The two were on their first cruise to the Caribbean and chose the region for the weather and “something different”.

Meanwhile, Colin and Joyce, a couple also from England, said it was their first time in St Vincent, but they had been on five other cruises in the Caribbean.

“This is more like realistic life, how they really live,” Colin said, when asked how St Vincent compares to the other Caribbean nations he had visited.

“Some of the countries are made to look good, but this is like how they really live … It’s amazing to see things like that — houses [among] the trees — because we don’t see anything like that at our end,” he said as he pointed to the houses in Long Wall, overlooking Kingstown Harbour

Colin said he and Joyce visit the Caribbean because of the “fantastic sea, fantastic beaches and everybody is friendly.

“That’s amazing to see how people can live like that,” he said, as he continued to observe the houses in Long Wall.

“Because we don’t have anything like that. It bewildered me how they stay up there,” he added.

P&O Cruises, owners of Ventura, says on its website that the ship is one of the largest cruise ships in its fleet. ([email protected])